release date: Jun. 2, 2023
format: digital (12 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,86]
producer: Greg Ahee, Jake Aron
label: Domino - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "Make Way" - 2. "For Tomorrow" - 3. "Elimination Dances" (4 / 5) - 4. "Fun in Hi Skool" (live) - 5. "Let's Tip the Creator" - 6. "Graft vs. Host" - 7. "3800 Tigers" - 8. "Polacrilex Kid" (live) - 10. "We Know the Rats" (4 / 5) - 12. "Rain Garden"
6th studio album by post-punk revivalists Protomartyr following three years after the acclaimed Ultimate Success Today (Jul. 2020) is another high quality release from a band who understands to stay true to its origins while exploring new territory.
Musically, it's fierce alt. rock building on an American college rock-tradition where both Pixies and Modest Mouse play equal parts with more classic British punk rock and post-punk roots. And then still, Protomartyr sounds just like no one else. They play with a nuanced understanding of balancing quiet and loud and delicate with the brutal, and lead vocalist Joe Casey's political comments are mixed with surreal / cryptic messages that fronts Greg Ahee's white noisy guitar constructs in perfect balanced disorder.
Formal Growth in the Desert gives us Protomartyr as a highly vital American band with something to offer than just a fabrication of mainstream sound.
Highly recommended. [Get the album here].
[ 👍allmusic.com, Uncut, Slant 4 / 5, 👍SputnikMusic 4,1 / 5, TheLineOfBestFit 4,5 / 5, Pitchfork 7,6 / 10 stars ]
